By Paul Gotham
When Archie Miller’s Dayton Flyers take the floor next time, they will come face to face with some unpleasantness of their not-so-distant past.
If their recent past is any indication, the Flyers should put some demons behind them.
UD will take on the Rhode Island Rams Wednesday night. Eighteen days ago URI handed the Flyers their third straight setback at the time.
“That was the lowest point of our team’s season,” Miller said during the A-10’s weekly coaches’ tele-conference. “Our effort level, our chemistry on both ends of the floor was non-existent.”
The Flyers, which were ranked at one time earlier in the season, dropped their next contest to St. Joseph’s and fell to 1-5 in the Atlantic 10.
“Our strengths, some of the things we’ve done well, we lost,” Miller commented. “Our weaknesses were exposed. If your strengths aren’t there, you’re really in trouble.”
Since then UD has won three straight and will have a chance to get back to .500 on Blackburn court Wednesday night.
“I think you saw signs of our resurgence in the St. Joe’s game, but it started in practice on the Monday after our loss to Rhode Island,” Miller noted. “We’ve gotten back to some basics both on offense and defense. We haven’t deviated a whole lot since then on those things.”
Dayton went on to beat an undermanned George Washington team at home before winning at George Mason and St. Bonaventure.
“I thought we had a great bounce about us just in terms of our practices,” Miller stated. “First time in a long time that I’ve watched our guys in practice where there’s been unbelievable pace. There’s been great competition. If you can say that as a coach on February 10th, that you’re practicing well, then they’re engaged.”
The difference?
“They stopped worrying about the losses,” Miller said of his players. “Are we playing not to lose, lose, lose? The switch sorta got flipped when it was ‘okay get up off the ground and play to win.’ There’s a big difference in February in competing and playing to win then playing not to lose. The mistakes when you play not to lose are mistakes out of not being aggressive.”
Devin Oliver leads Dayton in points (12.3), rebounds (6.7), assists (2.2) and steals (22 total). The senior co-captain recovered from early foul trouble to score 15 points in the final 10:23 of the win at St. Bonaventure.
“He had probably one of the best 15-minute runs you could have,” Miller said.
Rhode Island (11-13/2-7) is 0-5 on the road in the A-10 this season. The Rams have dropped three straight and four of five. URI leads the all-time series between the two teams 13-12.
Xavier Munford and E.C. Matthews combine to average 29 points for Rhody. They scored 47 in Rhode Island’s 88-76 win over UD less than three weeks ago.
“We’re going to have to do a much better job on Xavier Munford and E.C. Matthews. That one-two punch is serious.”
Jordan Sibert and Dyshawn Pierre add 12 a piece for the Flyers while Vee Sanford chips in 10 off the bench.
“We’ve been ourselves again every day in practice. We’ve had a great pace about us. We’ve had very, very sharp concentration. We’ve had very good practices. I think it’s carrying over to the games. We’re playing to win the games again like we were at different times in the season rather than worrying about I hope things don’t go wrong. To be in February and playing to win? That’s a good sign.”
UD is ranked No. 59 in the most recent RPI with their strength of schedule also coming in at No. 59.
A 7 p.m. tip time is scheduled. The game will be broadcast on WHIO and SNY.
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